Greek Unemployment Continues Downward Trend; Falls to 16.9% in July

The unemployment rate in Greece fell to 16.9 percent of the workforce in July of 2019, from a level of 19.1 percent seen exactly one year earlier and 17.1 percent in June of this year, the Hellenic (Greek) Statistical Authority ELSTAT announced on Thursday.

The statistics service stated in their monthly report that the number of unemployed individuals totaled 797,218 in July, a decrease of 109,577 from July of 2018, representing a decline of 12.1%). This was also a decrease of 11,405 people compared to June of 2019 (which represents a decline of 1.4%).

The number of employed persons in Greece is estimated to be up 1.5% from July of 2018 and down 0.3% from June, 2019.

The unemployment rate among women was 21% in July of this year, from 24 percent in July of 2018, while among men it fell to 13.7% from 15.1 percent, respectively.

The unemployment rate in the most vulnerable to unemployment age group of 15-24 fell to 32.9% in July from a level of 37.8 percent in July of last year.

For those 25-34 years of age, unemployment fell to 22.8% from 24.2 percent, and in the 35-44 age group, it fell to 14.3 percent from 17.3%.

Among all the country’s regions, Epirus and West Macedonia recorded the highest unemployment rate, at 20.3 percent, still lower than the 23.1% of July last year, followed by Macedonia and Thrace, with 18.9% currently, compared to 19.4% last year.

The lowest unemployment rate of any region of Greece was recorded on Crete, with just 9.9 percent of workers not being able to find a job.